CONCORD, N.H. — The New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Markets & Food (DAMF) is working towards a cooperative agreement with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to administer the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) Program for the State of New Hampshire.

The purpose of the RFSI program is to build resilience in the middle of the food supply chain, to provide more and better markets to small farms and food businesses, to support the development of value-added products and create new revenue streams for agricultural producers in the state. Through the RFSI Program, DAMF will receive funding from USDA that will be subawarded to eligible entities in the form of infrastructure grants to middle-of-the-supply businesses to create more diverse local and regional market options and create more economic opportunities for communities, allowing them to retain more of the value chain dollar.

Projects that receive subaward funding will expand capacity and infrastructure for the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, or distribution of targeted local and regional agricultural products.

Entities eligible for infrastructure grants through this program:

• Agricultural producers or processors, or groups of agricultural producers and processors
• Nonprofit organizations operating middle-of-the-supply-chain activities such as processing, aggregation, distribution of targeted agricultural products
• Local government entities operating middle-of-the-supply-chain activities such as processing, aggregation, distribution of targeted agricultural products
• Tribal governments operating middle-of-the-supply-chain activities such as processing, aggregation, distribution of targeted agricultural products
• Institutions such as schools, universities, or hospitals bringing producers together to establish cooperative or shared infrastructure or invest in equipment that will benefit multiple producers of middle-of-the-supply-chain activities such as processing, aggregation, distribution of targeted agricultural products

DAMF is currently developing a State Plan that outlines the priorities and needs New Hampshire’s agricultural supply chain and how DAMF will administer the competitive grant process to award infrastructure grants. In order to ensure needs are identified and priorities set are most beneficial to producers, DAMF is seeking feedback from stakeholders through a stakeholder listening session. You are invited to attend the listening session through TEAMS on Friday, July 28 at 1:00 PM by registering at the link below. For more information on the RFSI Program, please visit https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/grants/rfsi. If you are unable to attend the listening session, please send comments to [email protected] using the subject line RFSI Feedback.

Registration: https://events.gcc.teams.microsoft.com/event/7d20f641-a9ea-4f2c-83f4-b47467fcbf95@992deae9-1c4c-42c8-a310-5088af55ba74

–New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Markets & Food